Chapters
Synopsis Chapter List * Rats in the Cellar * Twisted Plot * Tangled Threads * Fair Harvest * Vision Impaired * The Bare Necessities * Cat Call * Coils of Fate * Barred Entry * Bookbinding * Wed of Betrayal * A Lesser Evil * Duel Nature * Backfire * Untitled 15th Chapter Demon's Due ''is divided into illustrated chapters through which the struggles of each heroine is told. Since the story is a serialized anthology, each one focuses on a different character, though some come back to the spotlight after their initial outing, especially Elina and Callista. Rats in the Cellar ''Rats in the Cellar ''is the first chapter of ''Demon's Due. It is posted in uncompleted form on deviantart. The definitive edition can be bought off of Amazon. The same will apply to every chapter after it. In this first chapter, bounty hunter Valerin Caldwyre investigates the cellars beneath The Fair Harvest Inn, looking for a lost kitchen maid. Instead of finding the girl, though, she stumbles into a long game between ancient forces not seen in Dernhem for many centuries, but this is hardly the beginning of this struggle. Men and women have both been disappearing without a trace of as late, and the missing kitchen maid seems to be just the latest victim. In fact, Valerin visits the inn to help solve this very mystery, hired by the city government and acting under the orders of her superior, Lord Luther Vandermoor. In her inquiries of these strange events and investigation of suspicious persons and suspects, she arrives at the Fair Harvest. While there, the owner, Albert Fiskerne, requests for Valerin to look into the disappearance of his missing employee. She accepts the job and bravely marches into the dark cellar, oil lamp and mace in hand, thinking herself ready for anything. She couldn't be more wrong. Valerin finds herself in way over her head, and realizes that she is hunted, not the hunter, as she falls into a well-planned ambush, leaving her with only her wits to fight back against overwhelming odds that came from the most unexpected of sources. Twisted Plot The second chapter of Demon's Due, taking place shortly after the disappearance of Valerin Caldwyre, Twisted Plot ''follows sorceress Avora Villios as she investigates the grounds of Mitesceru Manor, the former home of the former High Lady Maladyne Mitesceru, at the behest of Luthor Vandermoor in order to expose the conspiracy plaguing Dernhem. Confident in her ability with her magic, Avora braves the abandoned grounds to uncover just what her former mentor and master plots for their mutual home nation, but soon finds that things are much more sinister than even she could have imagined. She, too, soon falls victim to the machinations of the dark forces at work in Dernhem. In the end, Avora lies unconscious in an enchanted slumber and at the mercy of a new player who comes to collect her. Meanwhile, we formally meet this Lord Luther Vandermoor, one of the chief enforcers of law and order in the land, as he receives the news of Valerin Caldwyre's disappearance. Tangled Threads A short chapter linking plot threads between the first two chapters and the succeeding chapter, ''Fair Harvest. It follows the investigation of the missing Valerin by a young shape-shifter named Deirdre, as she first reports to her and missing the bounty hunter's mutual superior, Luthor Vandarmoor, and then continues onto her searching that signs her quarry actually left Dernhem's capitol. The chapter also follows as Callista smuggles a still unconscious sorceress Avora into Dernham's capitol to join Valerin as part of the conspirator's "collection," a path that will converge with Deirdre's own soon enough. The story is currently only semi-completed on deviantart, but the full version will be available later on Kinder and in paperbook ala Amazon.com. Fair Harvest The fourth chapter, which again focuses on Deirdre as she continues following the trail of Valerin Caldwyre. This chapter sees the turning point of the story where all the characters' varied paths begin to converge to a single site. The young shape-shifter's trail takes her to The Fair Harvest Inn, an establishment she had already infiltrated undercover earlier, following different leads. Her search for the missing bounty hunter has her return to serve as one Master Fiskeren's serving wenches, but in the dark of the night, Deirdre ventures forth, and soon follows suit into the Inn's cellar. It is here that she, too, begins to discover how far down the rabbit hole leads. While searching, Deirdre finds a secret passage leading to a previously unknown part of the inn's cellar, known as The Undercellar. In this expansive catacombs of tunnels and rooms, she finally finds her quarry, Valerin, but not as she expected her. The once proud warrior-woman has since her capture been brought low, stripped of all freedom and basic human dignity. Deirdre watches as Valerin is marched on her humiliating crawl through the Undercellar as a mysterious figure in a hood is orders the snared bounty hunter into a small cell. The hooded figure then leaves, and Deirdre decides to make her move. Unbeknownst to Deirdre as she moves to extract Valerin from the Undercellar, another player named Callista, an assassin and thief in the employee of the conspirators, has arrived at the inn. Her presence will soon throw a wrench into her plans of recovering the captive Valerin. Vision Impaired The fifth chapter of Demon's Due follows the story of a traveling seer named Madame Zirena. She is the former lover of Luthor Vandarmoor prior to her exile from Dernhem's capitol on a false charge. One day, Luthor visits to ask for her help in finding his missing agents (Valerin, Avora, and now Deirdre). However, she rebukes him angrily and he then tries to force her to help him, a decision that takes them both down a path neither of them are prepared for. Meanwhile, the sorceress Avora regains consciousness in The Undercellar with the hooded figure from Fair Harvest looming over her. He is none other than a strange jackrat-man hybrid named Jervil. He is none other than the mastermind behind the rash of disappearances and other strange occurrences in Dernhem. Then, despite his best efforts, Zirena is taken by the conspirators right out from under Luthor's care and disappeared into the night, leaving Luthor with a suspicious inn that seems to be the epicenter of all these darker happenings, and fewer and fewer options. Unknownst to him, Zirena is hit with a series of visions of the past, present, and future during her capture, showing her the fates of her-to-be fellow prisoners in the conspirators' care. Bare Necessities Having exhausted all possible options of exposing the conspiracy discreetly, Luthor Vandermoor goes street to High Lady Magistrate Drew Aliandis, herself to appeal at making a public and formal search and seizure of the Fair Harvest Inn. Drea agrees, and together with her Chief Scribe Elina, the three make a plan to enact a two-pronged attack of the establishment, with Lady Drea leading a troop of armed soldiers to take seize the inn while Luther and Elina sneak in through an extensive series of tunnels that basically run under the entirety of the city in order to take the conspirators by surprise. Alas, their arrival has been long anticipated and one by one, all the players moving against Jervil's operation under the Fair Harvest fall into his traps, one by one, including even some of his own followers who weren't so exempt from the menu as they had previously thought. One such follower turns out to be none other than Callista, despite many years of faithful service to their cause. All seems lost for both Lady Drea and Luthor and Elina's respective ventures as enemies close all around them and then the Fair Harvest is sacrificed to protect the conspiracy's operations. Catcall With the Fair Harvest being lost as a front to their operation and enemies still lurking around, one of the conspirators, a cat witch named Analae, attempts to find her partner in crime, Callista, and then flee The Undercellar altogether. However, her superior, Jervil the jackrat, has other plans in store for her. It's difficult to see, but the title can be read in the crumpled clothes lying on the floor behind Analae in the cover image seen to the right. This chapter also finally reveals the true purpose of why the conspirators had been abducting men and women all this time. Coils of Fate Picking up where we last saw Lady Drea Aliandis, as she struggled escape from the flaming ruins of The Fair Harvest Inn, she too enters the cellar in search of refuge and answers. She soon finds them, and much, much more that shakes the very foundations of her world and even her own self-assuredness of her own authority and capabilities. Elsewhere in the Undercellar, Elina and Luther are separated during an ambush by a horde of undead Jervil was unleashed upon all the intruders and she is taken while an unknown fate befalls Luther. Elina soon awakens in the cells that once house Valerin, Avora, Deirdre, and Zirena, alive and mostly unharmed. As for Lady Drea, she is attacked and initially subdued by Jervil, but unlike all the prior victims before her, she overcomes and seemingly kills the rat-man before investigating deeper into the under-cellar, but now deprived of the protection of her battle-armor. However, The Undercellar has many more surprises awaiting her, many, many more. Barred Entry An as-of-now unreleased chapter that will consist of Elina's captivity in her cell through to her rescue by Luther. As of this writing, the events described happen in Bookbinding. Bookbinding Elina, in the darkness of The Undercellar, manages to escape her captivity and begins investigating the area in the aftermath of the previous chapters' events. With Jervil, Callista, and Analae all seemingly taken out of the picture, she is free to explore and soon finds the answers she seeks: the purpose of the conspiracy, the fates of the missing people, and reason why they were taken. However, it is of course not that simple and she is soon assaulted by the undead hordes once more, but is rescued by Luther Vandermoor before they can finish their work. With the undead slain and the Undercellar now truly empty, the pair is left to pick up the pieces, but their task is hardly complete. Now leaderless, Dernhem must scramble to maintain order and prevent a public panic while Elina throws herself completely into her quest to resolve the curse plaguing their land, even as another dark force awakes and creeps through stone halls of the Undercellar... coming for her. Web of Betrayal Captured and forced to serve the dark entity known as "The Hellbinder," Elina chronicles her findings as she and the beast move to suppress the coming doom looming over all of Dernhem. Now the players begins to scatter and go their separate ways, moving to resolve the escalating situation to the best of their abilities. The Hellbinder and Elina arrive at the Palace of Judgment to speak to those still in power to discuss the coming of The Harbinger, a goddess the people of Dernhem have long worshipped as their protector. However, her coming will not bring salvation, but damnation, as she will destroy everything the Demon (the Hellbinder) hungers for, which is everything in Dernhem. So the Hellbinder offers to help the Proxima High Lord Ordiel if they will submit to his will. It is decided that The Hellbinder is the lesser of two evils.